Transcend
by Fruitiest of Mallards
Summary: When Dipper Pines defeats the dream demon Bill Cipher, he is left forever altered...as well as the entire planet. /Personal interpretation of the Transcendence AU, not in chronological order.
1. Hospital Stay

**This is a collection of stories set within my personal variant of the _Transcendence AU_ from tumblr. They're more along the lines of experiments. Chances are I'll often go back and edit, maybe even rewrite, a bunch of these every few months or so.**

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><p>He could still remember the <em>pain<em>. The pure, indescribable agony which had come with the death of Bill Cipher; pulsating, aching in his bones and spreading through his blood like wildfire; he'd passed out, unable to process it, or he would have, if it allowed him to be unconscious. He found it was impossible to ignore that kind of suffering, even with the most severe of biological responses backing him up. Cipher, invading his mind and almost kicking out his very _soul _from Dipper's own body, attempting to possess his body forever, the strain of retaliating, of keeping—him—_out_. Dipper thought he would die. Dipper fell to his knees as the dream demon perished, not quite there anymore, simply letting whatever was going on go on. He could _see_ Cipher, when his eyes rolled back in to his head; could feel him disintegrating from existence. The most trying ordeal of his life. 'Difficult' was not a strong enough word. The first death he ever witnessed and it wasn't even a human.

Dipper clutched at his arms, crossed over his chest. His back pressed against the cot he lied upon, he'd been sent to the E.R. of the nearest hospital to Gravity Falls. He didn't know what excuse had been given for his condition, for all he knew he was being toted as a victim of some angry bear's advancement. He didn't care, whatever was said about him, he just wanted to sleep. He couldn't, though, his brown eyes were wide and staring at the white ceiling above, the scent of sterility flooding his nose, giving him a sense of the surreal. Was he truly here? Was it really all...he was battered and bruised, sides slashed to bits, who could have guessed the levels of violence a demon would resort to in their darkest hour. He'd almost been certain there was internal bleeding, not because of any hard fall he'd taken, of everything he'd gone through falling from a great height was not one of them. No, he was convinced of internal bleeding because he could _sense_ it, experienced the insane frenzy Cipher succumbed to while partially inside of him.

However, when tested and examined by professional doctors, it turned out that there wasn't any internal bleeding. He was hurt, but not fatally so. Cold cloth was placed over his gashes, to stem the pour of blood, then bandaging. He was told he was in shock, he had no reason to disbelieve the nurses; he sat there listlessly. His friends and family were alright. Why wasn't he more relieved? Cipher was gone. Never able to threaten a person again. But something was amiss. He hadn't the slightest clue what. Something was blank in his memory—something big. The throbbing headache in his skull didn't help. He attempted to no avail to _think_, to uncover what seemed to him the last great mystery to solve—what else went down while Cipher and he battled for dominance in a frail twelve year old's body? Dipper's fingers curled, his knuckles became white; what, where, why? Questions. He hoped he'd be done with those. Evidently not.

The doctors finally allowed for visitors some odd hours later; Dipper tried not to be too bitter at them for keeping his own sister away from him for so long.


	2. Bus Stop

Dipper Pines was a dream demon now.

That was the best solution he could come up with for the strange things which kept happening to him. First, he'd woken up outside outside of his own body in the night, while he slept. He found whenever he tried to jump back into it, he woke up. Telling no one, not even Mabel, to his own surprise, he experimented with the phenomenon. He remembered being distinctly wary. The dreamscape was Bill's domain. What if he wasn't really dead? What if he was waiting for vengeance? Nothing of the sort occurred; Dipper found he could walk around the Mystery Shack unseen and unheard as if he didn't exist, so long as his body was sound asleep.

He glanced down at his fingers. They still looked human. The creases and pores remained. He wasn't some ghastly triangle, or any other geometric shape. Above all he was thankful for, he wasn't Bill Cipher. Whatever happened to him the week previous hadn't made him a monster. He was Dipper, the brainiac boy, the nerdy twin. He didn't want this. If he knew how he'd get rid of the powers. He hadn't done much else besides roaming and watching other peoples' dreams—he was afraid to.

Dipper soaked in the rain. Stan had an opened umbrella above their heads; he didn't speak. Dipper didn't know what he expected his great uncle to say, anyway.

He breathed in deep—he didn't really want to be out here, but then again, it was too stuffy inside. The bus would be here soon. He wondered if all demons could feel uncomfortable or if he was a special case. Cipher was always the very picture of whimsical terror, he never seemed to feel the world around him at all. He existed in dreams—and those could be manipulated at will. He wondered if there _were_ other demons out there. Bill was a dream demon—did that mean there were more out there, of different types? It seemed like a no-brainer, but no one could tell for sure in a town like Gravity Falls. He swallowed a knot in his throat, which had a suspicious burning; tears forming? The summer was over, he was going home. Autumn was arriving, the leaves just beginning to brown. His belongings leaned against his leg in stickered suitcases.

His twin stood beside him, for someone like her, she was eerily silent. She had taken special time the day before and this morning to travel around the whole town and say goodbye to everyone she knew, and everyone she didn't, though it was hard not to know everybody in Gravity Falls when you lived there for any amount of time. Dipper was determined to ask his parents to send them back here next summer, if they didn't, he may have to behave out of character and throw a fit. It was that important to him. He was sure Mabel would do the same, they hadn't talked about it, but it was obvious to him. Where else would they go? Gravity Falls wormed its way—a little bit like a wrecking ball—into their hearts, he'd never forget it. In the back of his mind a voice whispered, _Grunkle Stan won't live forever_, and other things like, _He's getting older with every passing day_; he ignored them with determination.

Stan was right there, but surely the guy would understand if Dipper had to talk to Mabel...

"Mabel, uh, there's something I wanna tell you..."

"Do you mind if I try guessing?"

He cut off his sigh. He couldn't deny her her games. They were what made her Mabel Pines, "No, I don't mind."

"Is it your sleepwalking?"

It took him a moment to register what she'd said.

"What do you mean?!"

"I watch you get up in the middle of the night, no one else ever notices. I tried following you once," she confessed.

He gaped.

"Sleepwalking?" Grunkle Stan spoke up, "I haven't noticed anything like that, and I stay up until unholy hours of the night!"

He was lying. There were some nights he stayed up later than usual—but he normally grew tired and went to sleep not long after Dipper and Mabel. Had to keep up the sleazy image, Dipper supposed.

"Uh...it doesn't happen _every_ night..." he said.

It did.

He thought Mabel would contradict him; she didn't.

Dipper didn't meet his grunkle's eyes, "I'll just ask my dad for sleeping pills..."

He could feel Stan's gaze on him, "Sounds like a plan, kid."


End file.
